‘Chapin’s Inferno’ Torches Keith Edwards and Hamilton College

Readers of The Torch may remember that in late September, Hamilton College (HC) told all of its first-year male students that they were required to attend "She Fears You," an "intervention" program by Keith Edwards that is designed to make the men acknowledge their personal complicity in a "rape culture" and change their "rape-supportive" beliefs and attitudes. (HC made the event seem optional minutes before its commencement by not scanning student IDs after all.)

On Saturday, Bernard Chapin of "Chapin’s Inferno," a colorful YouTube video series described as a "wandering cauldron of politically incorrect commentary," used many of FIRE’s arguments in a video that details the problems with the mandatory program. (Click here for FIRE’s letter to HC, and for The Torch entries on the subject, click here, here, and here.)

Chapin starts by referencing Samantha’s article about the program and praising FIRE.

… which brings me to this excellent article by Samantha Harris from thefire.org, which stands for The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. And they’re not the good guys in the battle for free speech … they’re the great guys!

Its title: "Hamilton Requires First-Year Men to Attend Presentation on Campus ‘Rape Culture’; Female Applicants Not Forewarned of Dangers of Attending Hamilton." So, a school’s indoctrinating only its male students, the same male students, like, who give them 50 grand a year! Brainwashing them to let them know that they are evil—how is that for customer service? (0:34 – 1:16)

He then challenges Edwards’ presumption that Hamilton men are complicit in "rape culture" and that such a culture exists on Hamilton’s campus.

… Did any of these freshmen commit rapes? No, they weren’t there long enough to do that. Did any rapes occur at Hamilton last year? None that I could find online. Thus, this is probably all a lie. There is no crime, so personal complicity is an impossibility to begin with. Furthermore, there is no rape culture as there were no rapes. (1:47 – 2:09)

Rape is an evil act performed by dysfunctional males, and I sincerely doubt that any of them are freshmen at Hamilton College. (3:35 – 3:41)

Finally, he dismisses Edwards’ theory that men need an emotional "intervention" in order to become normal, functional, non-raping members of society.

And you’ve gotta see that website ’cause you’re gonna laugh. It’s based on the theory that men need a combined positive and emotional intervention in order to change their rape-supportive beliefs. You see, you’re ill, you’re so ill. You need an intervention before you’re fit to become a regular human being. (4:45 – 5:06)

Without this intervention, you might be tempted to treat women like the independent souls that they actually are. (5:23 – 5:30)

We at FIRE appreciate Chapin’s attention to this case and his praise for our work against thought reform programs like Hamilton’s. His video can be enjoyed in full here.

For the record, Hamilton College has yet to apologize or issue any formal statement about the program.